A detailed regional profile that compares rural and urban populations of seven North Central states (Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Michigan, Minnesota, Ohio, and Wisconsin) is presented in this report. Following an overview of the report, sources, and definitions, the next eight sections discuss the region as a whole and each of the seven states by…

For much of Maryland's history, formal education was a privilege, not a right. The notion that statewide public education was a public responsibility came slowly, and the institutional system that developed to provide such an education emerged only after considerable debate and experimentation. Education of the female, black, poor, and orphaned…

This document comprises the mandatory report of the Superintendent of Public Instruction to the Washington State legislature on proposed methods of controlling health care costs for school employees. It focuses on the costs to Washington's 296 school districts of providing health care coverage for approximately 80,000 employees. The introduction…

Crop production in 1984, particularly for spring-planted crops, returned to near-normal levels from the much reduced output of 1983 when government programs curbed planted acreage and drought depressed yields. The top five states in net farm income were California, at $3.5 billion; Iowa, $2.2 billion; Florida, $1.8 billion; and Illinois, $1.7…

This four-part booklet is the result of a project with four goals: (1) familiarize physical educators in Illinois with the four items of the American Alliance for Health, Physical Education, Recreation and Dance (AAHPERD) Health Related Physical Fitness Test; (2) design materials regarding implementation strategies for health related fitness that…

While some states are adopting uniform, statewide testing of college students to assess learning, most are relying on a wide variety of testing programs designed and administered by individual institutions. (MSE)

This article is a response to Wainer's comments on a research study representing the first major analysis of factors linked to state differences in Scholastic Aptitude Test performance. (JAZ)

A special workshop at Coppin State for students who succeed in the freshman remedial mathematics course but fail on the final test is described. The two-week review provides a relaxed atmosphere, a tutoring format encouraging more active participation, and a test-anxiety workshop. (MSE)

The authors attempt to show how the dissemination of uncorrected state Scholastic Aptitude Test (SAT) scores may have created an inaccurate public and governmental perception of the variation in educational quality. Their research demonstrates that comparing state SAT averages is ill-advised unless these ratings are corrected for compositional and…

This document addresses a study that aimed to better understand the historical development of British Columbia community college, university college, and institute system with special attention given to recent changes in inter-institutional collaboration in relation to provincial coordination. The study also addresses centralization and…

Four publishers responding to the previous discussion agreed that American elementary achievement has improved, but evidence presented by the Secretary of Education confirms that few real improvements have occurred since "Nation at Risk." Commercial achievement tests provide falsely high scores (the Lake Wobegon Effect). (SLD)

Since the mid 1970s the national rate at which incoming 9th graders have completed high school has fallen slowly but steadily; this is also true in 41 states. In 2002, about three in every four students who might have completed high school actually did so; in some states this figure is substantially lower. In this paper I review state-level…

This overview of higher education in the United States is organized into two main sections, respectively headed "The Nation" and "The States." The section on national issues opens with summary statistics on higher education enrollment, expenditures, attainment, and demographics, followed by key data displayed in map form. It…

This document presents findings of a study that examined costs incurred by local education agencies (LEAs) in the state of Illinois for the delivery of special-education services. Data were obtained from a survey of 110 out of 296 Illinois school districts in 6 geographical regions, a 37 percent response rate. Findings indicate that the…

In recent years, community colleges have developed innovative assessment programs to respond to more explicit state guidelines and mandates for greater accountability. In California, for example, the State Assembly began requiring community colleges to address specific educational and fiscal performance issues in assessments in 1989, while…